considering the low-power -> low crunch rate of mobile phones, why make an ARM version to begin with? Is crunching on your mobile really going to contribute to the grand scale of SETI and other BOINC projects, or is it just going to drain your battery faster without making much of a difference at all?

Actually, low power and large numbers are some of the point. There are 100 times as many phones out there as PCs, so potentially phones can have a large impact (if we sign up enough users). And phones individually use very little power, so in terms of FLOPS per watt, they could be more efficient than PCs.

BOINC, by default, only runs applications when your phone is plugged and fully charged, so it shouldn't run down your battery. @SETIEric

I'm wondering about having them being on power 24/7, as far as I know it's not good for the battery?

Don't feel the need to charge them 24/7. Just use them normally. I charge mine at night and have it hooked to my laptop when at work.

Charging shouldn't damage your battery (unless the charging circuit is very poorly designed). Most devices have a temperature sensor on the battery that BOINC monitors, so it will shut down if it's getting warm. The phone usually monitors that sensor and stops charging to protect the battery if it gets warm, too.

Deeply discharging your battery too often can cause damage, so I don't recommend that anyone set BOINC to run on batteries. Anything you see online about batteries developing a "memory" that requires them to be discharged fully doesn't apply to NiMH or Lithium batteries. It really didn't apply to NiCd batteries either. It's just one of those urban legends that refuses to go away. @SETIEric

One thing I learned in the first day: when it's crunching, my phone uses more power than my computer, at least the one at work, can supply. The battery level dwindled (while plugged in) to below 90% and Boinc stopped. Crunching didn't resume until I got home and my stand-alone charger brought it up above 90% again.

I suppose another factor here could be that the phone signal at my desk is so poor, the phone is always actively searching for it, thus using a lot of power. But without Boinc it still manages to charge. I'm trying a stand-alone charger now (a different one than at home), so we'll see what happens.

The computer was scheduled to be replaced a couple weeks ago, so I'll try the new one when I finally get it.DavidSitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

As long as SETI@home v7 v7.07 (armv7-*****) work was running, computing went well without errors. However I've noticed nothing but computing errors since v7 v7.10 started to appear. I'm not gonna keep on trashing work so I've set Boinc to NNT until further notice.

Best post that at Seti Beta, until you're had completed and validated tasks there your projects here will still be only shown as Seti and Milkway,
and until then no-one here can look at your errored tasks there.